I. Suggestions for Completing the Unit

1. Unlike those in previous units, the sentences in this unit are unrelated. Therefore, you can work on each sentence individually without worrying about the context.

2. You may do the exercises under each topic as you finish the related editing / grammar unit(s) in the previous part of this book. For example, you can do “Review Sentence Structure and Punctuation” after completing Unit 7 Sentence Essentials and Unit 8 Three Common Errors in Sentence Structure and Punctuation. The links to the related editing units are provided.

3. You may also do all or some of the parts in this unit before your major tests. However, allow yourself enough time to finish the exercises and to study your weak areas if necessary.

4. As you work though Unit 20, grow more mindful of the common errors and ways to fix them. Try to avoid those types of errors in your writing. In fact, the best approach to improvement is through writing and then editing your own writing.

 

II. Review Sentence Structure and Punctuation

For the corresponding editing / grammar units, click:

Unit 7 Sentence Essentials

Unit 8 Three Common Errors in Sentence Structure and Punctuation

 

Correct the error(s) in each sentence below. All the mistakes are related to sentence structure and punctuation. There may be more than one mistake in some sentences.

1. I have a lot of writing homework, also I have tons of reading homework.
2. When I saw the horse I was surprised and happy.
3. When you go to Building A, on the first floor you’ll see a very big place, that is our cafeteria.
4. First you will do the job well with only a bit training.
5. The fish is very beautiful but it’s hard to feed.
6. I think, that collecting marine fish is an exciting hobby.
7. I go to class on time, and finish my homework on time.
8. The best type of job for me, is to be a travel agent.
9. Dogs are helpful, they can help blind people on the street.
10. In my opinion she has a bad character.
11. Also she likes traveling alone.
12. When he went to work he took the cell phone with him.
13. When I opened the door I saw my husband.
14. Although, it was windy, we finished our daily walk.
15. Even though, it was hard to get my visa I got it after two months.
16. My wife does not like sports, nor she likes gardening.
17. In the end, we did not work in the garden, nor we did not go out.
18. Everybody enjoyed the game because of the weather was so nice.
19. During we were having our writing class, it started snowing. My first time to see snow.
20. The food in the school canteen was very tasty, it still makes my mouth water whenever I think of it.
21. I hope, I could get a chance to go back and enjoy these things again.
22. As soon as I have the opportunity to go there I will gladly go. 
23. I love this boy he gives me power in my life.
24. I will see her in a few weeks, she will come to Chicago.
25. Many of us went through many experiences some of them are interesting and happy and others are difficult and sad.
26. Is rich in vitamin C.
27. That why I think that dogs are better than cats.
28. People like cats because they quieter than dogs.
29. I love her big brown eyes. And long black hair.
30. When my friends come to my house, they do not ask for me, ask for my mom because she always invites them to eat.
31. My mom the most important member of my family.
32. During this uncertain trip went twenty hours.
33. Whenever, a storm comes, I remember that difficult winter day.
34. I do not like to go out even the weather is nice.
35. Elderly parents should live with their family because is the last part of their lives and is very important that they feel love, respect, and enough attention from their adult children.

 

III. Review Verbs

For the corresponding editing / grammar units, click:

Unit 9 Verb Basics in Academic Writing

Unit 10 Subject-Verb Agreement

Unit 11 Expressing Meaning in Present Tenses

Unit 12 Expressing Meaning in Past Tenses

Unit 13 Expressing Meaning in Future Tenses

Unit 14 Expressing Meaning in Mixed Tenses

Unit 15 Modals

Appendix D Irregular Verbs

 

Correct the error(s) in each sentence below. All the mistakes are related to the use of verbs. There may be more than one mistake in some sentences.

1. The teacher do not wanted to put much pressure on his students.
2. Weightlifting will helps your muscle get stronger.
3. My younger son had sick.
4. If you have a car, it can helps you a lot.
5. Nobody have enough time to do everything.
6. There is a lot of benefits of having a car in the U.S.
7. Many people wants to have a car to protect themselves from the bad weather.
8. In the U.S., going someplace by bus or train take more time than by car.
9. In my country, most people lives near the coast because the interior is too dry.
10. Doing exercises help us have a healthier life.
11. This supermarket have fresh and frozen products.
12. Walmart supply not only food but also home appliances.
13. Everyone perceive and feels things differently.
14. Lake Michigan is a very big lake, and it surrounding a half of Chicago.
15. If someone like to visit Chicago, it is the perfect place. It have a lot of skyscrapers.
16. Most of the customers is fine and friendly.
17. They were really likes her cartoon book.
18. He doesn’t afraid to do or try anything new or strange.
19. She is pray to god.
20. She is always help me.
21. Lack of grammar cause many problems.
22. I have never studies psychology in my life.
23. In the beginning, I thought that it will not be that hard to study.
24. My mom generally go to buy groceries in Fresh Market.
25. A good supermarket should has fresh products.
26. She enjoy her school work.
27. He like to read journals and romantic books.
28. He always ask me if I want to buy something.
29. Every week he collect the garbage and take it out of our house.
30. She love to cook, and she is making delicious food too.
31. She always prepare lunch for me.
32. My mom take care of my family.
33. She wake up early in the morning.
34. Household chores makes me tired.
35. There are no dirt on my carpet or my bed.
36. She committed suicide because she were a victim of bullying.
37. There is lots and lots of books in the library.
38. My classmates and I felt relaxed and was able to say anything we wanted to.
39. Doing household chores are a waste of time.
40. She was well educated because both of her parents was teachers.
41. We tried to hold each other and decided to go back because moving forward through the bridge were more dangerous.
42. Last weekend, there was so many people in the mall, and I cannot find my parents.
43. We went swimming together when my husband come home.
44. I couldn’t imagine that we were survive and everything went well.
45. I took a shower and then was go down for breakfast.
46. Everybody should to work hard.
47. Teenagers must to learn how to take care of themselves.
48. Suddenly something happened, and I must take a look.
49. The dress maybe mine.
50. Everyone should has a textbook.
51. If I can to get an A in this class, I very happy.
52. I was able to go to school and to go grocery shopping as many times as I need to.
53. In my high school, they never have conversation with me about how I feel or if I need help with my classes.
54. When I arrived in Los Angeles, I see smog and not sunshine.
55. You may think you never visit the supermarket again.
56. I was afraid that we may have to use a different pharmacy.
57. Since that day, I going to Mariano’s regularly.
58. I thought that he probably isn’t a nice person, so I stayed away from him and play with other children.
59. Since that day, I learned that we should check the weather before going anywhere.
60. Two police officials came up to me and asked what happen. I told them everything.
61. She is helping me every time I need her.
62. I feel like someone just used a big eraser and clear my brain.
63. Another car crash her car; as a result, she came back home late and feel frustrated.
64. Twelve people have died in the shooting last weekend.
65. If you late, you will miss part of the lesson.
66. Some students afraid about their school life.
67. You must go to your class on time and don’t absent.
68. You will never bored because Chicago has a lot of amazing sites.

 

IV. Review Nouns

For the corresponding editing / grammar unit, click: Unit 16 Nouns

 

Correct the error(s) in each sentence below. All the mistakes are related to the use of nouns. There may be more than one mistake in some sentences. In some cases, when the noun is corrected, the verb needs to be changed as well.

1. When I was a child, I enjoyed three thing.
2. Tree climbing was my favorite activities.
3. They are the main reason to make my childhood complete.
4. The third things I liked was football.
5. Every kids wanted to win this competition.
6. All of them gave me a good presents.
7. We read a lot of history book and novels.
8. I remember my childhood for several reason.
9. I remember my parents’ advices.
10. They fed some chickens, gooses, cows, and planted different vegetable on the farm.
11. We entered the store and saw a lot of new phone.
12. I chose six phone, but I needed to buy just one.
13. I waited ten minute in line.
14. I really wanted to grow up to be a beautiful women.
15. I saw a lot of beautiful view.
16. We had ten minute of break between two classes.
17. It was one of the happiest day of my life.
18. I liked to draw differents kind of horse.
19. The smell of my grandmas perfume is wonderful. It smells like mix of different kind of flowers.
20. Sometimes we can give an advice to each other.
21. A benefit in a good job is a good money.
22. The president of the U.S. is one of the most famous person in the world.
23. A travel agents learn about each airports.
24. Cats eat less than dog.
25. Some cat are good hunters.
26. Cats are very smart animal.
27. Dogs can be a real friends for us.
28. Several of my friend are also student at Harper College.
29. The most common language in the country are Igbo and Yoruba.
30. I do not have enough vocabularies for many different reason.
31. There are many psychologist in the world.
32. In all those three semester, Psychology 101 was the most difficult class for me.
33. The unit just includes all the main point and some definition.
34. After one and a half hour, we get five minutes break.
35. I never saw any dust on the shelfs or any papers on the floor.
36. We can see different products in every supermarkets.
37. Not all supermarket have quality products.
38. For family with small children, Chicago has many schools to choose from.
39. When you work in a big city, you are surrounded by many peoples. This crowd can mold you in different way.
40. I could not say we were good friend, but at least we understood each other.
41. I cannot forget one of my American friend.
42. After I worked there for three month, they realized that I was a fast learner.
43. As an adults, we should not tolerate any violence from the kids even if they are our kids.
44. If we see or hear something, it is not OK to just be witness and do nothing.
45. Outside my building, I see a lot of tree, grass, and flower.
46. Their son is eight year old.
47. They have an eight-years-old son.
48. When I got to the mall, I saw a new stores.
49. Homeworks are essential in reinforcing what we learn in class.
50. Many woman has a large family and a lot of houseworks.
51. Everyone has a lot of works to do.
52. He’s holding two job to make ends meet.
53. The newspapers provide a lot of informations to the readers.
54. The defense lawyer presented a facts that the defendant was innocent.
55. My brother gave me two suggestion about what kind of car to buy.
56. I had chickens for dinner yesterday.
57. Hurricane Sandy killed many life.
58. I spend a lot of times doing my homework every week.
59. Do you have free times today?
60. I must wear my glass when I drive at night.
61. When my daughter was a 14 days infant, a very severe snow storm started .
62. We played so many game and enjoyed every single one.
63. I hope that in the future more vacation and some good adventure will be waiting for us.

 

V. Review Pronouns

For the corresponding editing / grammar unit, click: Unit 17 Pronouns

 

Correct the error(s) in each sentence below. All the mistakes are related to the use of pronouns. There may be more than one mistake in some sentences.

1. Every country has their own beauty.
2. Each student should bring their own book.
3. Cats are better pets than dogs because it is very clean.
4. Me and my friend, we came back to our home after shopping.
5. Me and my husband just came to the U.S.A., and he started working right away.
6. She especially wants to go to Italy because this country is a living museum.
7. The parents should not live with their adult children because they are so busy.
8. Old people are not able to take care them self.
9. We were enjoying and continued singing songs.
10. In class, some classmates tried to talk with me, but I did not give him a response.
11. I was very excited about the gifts, but my mother did not allow me to open it.
12. I and my cousins played some games.
13. I was afraid to take those rides, but my friends forced me to take it.
14. In one ride, it took me so high that you could see the whole city from there.
15. One ride it was so fun we took that ride three times.
16. All my friends and cousins we ate the leftover cake.
17. This experience has taught me that you must be more careful and prepared when you travel to a foreign country.
18. There are three things I miss the most about my native country, and that is my parents, my friends, and my city where I was born.

 

VI. Review Word Forms

For the corresponding editing / grammar unit, click: Unit 18 Word Forms

 

Correct the error(s) in each sentence below. All the mistakes are related to the use of word forms. There may be more than one mistake in some sentences.

1. Playing in a musical group was very excited to him.
2. Sports make people happy, fun, and interest.
3. Dogs are more friendly and smart than cats.
4. Adopting a cat is easy than adopting a dog.
5. Cats are more smaller than dogs.
6. For some students, writing is more easy than reading.
7. She is beautiful and middle age.
8. Her jokes make her students laugh, so they do not feel boring.
9. When I saw the horse, I was surprise and happy.
10. The nursing home really smelled bad, but it was interested to me.
11. The thunder sounded really scared.
12. I was so scare.
13. My mother and grandmother have a deeply regret.
14. The interview started good.
15. It was excited to learn something new.
16. People judge others very fast and easy.
17. It was a really disappointed shopping trip.
18. Studying English will be very benefit to my career.
19. Students in this class are allowed to speak free.
20. That gentleman treated us kind.

 

VII. Review Word Orders

For the corresponding editing / grammar unit, click: Unit 19 Word Orders

 

Correct the error(s) in each sentence below. All the mistakes are related to the use of word order. There may be more than one mistake in some sentences.

1. She is a person very energetic.
2. The teacher always is smiling and trying to learn something about the students.
3. That cell phone I had for many years.
4. I every afternoon do my homework.
5. He comes frequently late to class.
6. She frequently is late to class.
7. Always the tutors are very helpful.
8. Our math teacher was a young tall man, about 25 years old.
9. He was driving a Chrysler new pickup truck.
10. The bride had a white elegant gown.
11. Our family every year goes to the Taste of Chicago.
12. My brother eats often the most, every two hours.
13. When my son is hungry, he eats a meal very big.
14. On the first day of class, we did not know where was the classroom, so we went to the ESL office to ask how could we find it.
15. Could you tell us what time is it?

 

VIII. Mixed Editing

The sentences below contain multiple errors in sentence structure and punctuation, verbs, nouns, pronouns, word forms, and/or word orders. Some other types of errors may also exist. Improve each sentence by correcting the errors so that the meaning is clear.

1. I love my son very much, he is my older son, he is twenty years old.
2. When she say something, people wants to listen her.
3. Another class students asked why your class always funny?
4. I was in the military two years ago, and I was having a vacation time.
5. People in my native country is expert in making clothes and jewelries.
6. The man chased us, and he said that “why do you take my daughter?”
7. On that day I decided, I will never be scared. However if I ever got scared, then I will start praying.
8. With the cell phone, I was able to call whenever I needed. For example, to know that my husband is working longer today.
9. The worker said my name, girl with pink dress and white cap was lost.
10. One day, he went to his friend’s house by his bike . About three hours later, he hit against a car on a drive way while he was riding the bike home.
11. My favorite hobby is running in the park. When I wake up in the morning, always I feel so refreshed and good. Usually in the morning, I go running outside, I run for thirty minutes.
12. On Monday, at 5pm in the evening, me and my friend went mall for shopping. We visited mall and bought some clothes and shoes. After that, when we were coming back on the bus, suddenly, weather changed to windy and stormy.
13. As soon as we were going up, we both were panicking and stop watching down. We closed our eyes and then we heard a voice of an attractive boy who was singing a song.
14. The most experiences that learned me a lot that not to judge people quickly through appearances and specific attitude or behavior.
15. Sisters help to cope with everyday problems and to reduce stress, promoting happiness, and optimism.
16. During the study if some fails exam,  it could be a still to study more for strong person,  when weak person could leave it..
17. As we are the best helper for our babies, so we who are our parents’ daughter or son are best person to help them.
18. Respecting people are an important factor in creating a good and strong relationship among the members of the community. People should not without looking or caring on their races, religious, or clothings.
19. We don’t know exactly how another person feels even if they tell us what they are experiencing, we still do not fully understand what is going on inside the other person.
20. One day, when my cousin go to buy the things she need for dinner, she park in the wrong place because she not saw the yellow lines.
21. I want to work independently by myself. Therefore, I choose interior design for my profession. I eventually went to a school, and I got a license. Now I enjoy my career.
22. My parents pass away, and I make a decision to bring my brother and sister to U.S. because we didn’t have any opportunities in our country.
23. My company send me to work in the U.S. for one year. After one year, I have to decide to go back or stay here. It’s hard for me to decide, but I decide to stay in the US. I am going tell my manager this afternoon.